Downtown Chaos

"Please get out of my way, Seokjin! I want to go look for Hoseok-hyung!" Seokjin had immediately pulled Prince Jimin away from the chaos as soon as he saw the prince's glassy eyes while he was looking down at his phone. The phone's screen was shown to Seokjin once they reached the hallway outside and Prince Jimin went angry, really angry, when Seokjin stopped him from running away to go look for Prince Hoseok. Deep down, they both knew that the older prince was not inside the castle anymore.

"It's too dangerous for you to go out right now, Your Highness. Let the guards search around the castle first."

"You know he's not inside the castle anymore, Seokjin. You know what happened last year."

"I can't let you go out during this hour, Your Highness. It's my job to protect you."

"Then protect me. Let's go! It's an order!" Prince Jimin yelled, his voice rang throughout the vast hallway. Seokjin breathed a defeated sigh and nodded a few times. The deafening noises of the riot that had risen inside the ballroom was slowly diminishing once they started running away. Seokjin used Prince Jimin's phone that was still in his grip to dial Yoongi's number to tell him that they will go look for Prince Hoseok at downtown and Yoongi responded that he will come with. They crossed path at the front yard of the castle and Yoongi quickly went to his car to start up the engine. Seokjin hastily got inside the passenger's seat while Prince Jimin entered the back seat. No time was spared for the engine to warm up completely and Yoongi stepped on the gas pedal hard until it hit the base.

The guards patrolling the main entrance briskly work on opening the gates when they saw Yoongi's car speeding with screeches. The car accelerated on high speed so they arrived at downtown in no time. The atmosphere was numb silence, only the slight humming noises that came from the engine could be heard. Yoongi drove as slow as a turtle while all three pairs of eyes and ears perked up to see and listen if there was any sign of Prince Hoseok. Seokjin's head snapped to his right when he heard a faint glass shattering sound pierced his eardrums. He briefly motioned Yoongi to steer right.

"I think I heard something," Seokjin voiced in a low tone. They rode down the streets with eyes watching like a hawk. The car's headlight shone brightly on a corner-lot house and that was when they saw J-Hope. His blazer was already gone and his silk shirt was torn in all sorts of places. His sleeves were rolled up sloppily and the bloody scratches were very visible up until his elbow. His hair was dishevelled and a messy mop of chestnut brown. He breathed heavily and squinted his eyes at the sudden appearance of a bright light.

"Hyung!" Yoongi abruptly halted the car when Prince Jimin hastily opened the car door and stumbled outside. He almost tripped due to unbalance but he ignored that and made a run towards J-Hope.

"Wait, Your Highness!" Seokjin and Yoongi both scrambled out from the car and went to the same direction as Prince Jimin.

"Don't get close to him, Your Highness! He could hurt you!" Yoongi's voice was desperate. He managed to catch up to Prince Jimin and gripped his arm tightly.

"Let me go!" Prince Jimin yanked his arm away with so much force that Yoongi lurched forward and almost fell to the ground. The prince took that chance to get away and continued to call for J-Hope, "Hyung! Hyung!"

J-Hope's attention was turned towards Prince Jimin and he smirked slyly. Prince Jimin froze on his feet once he saw the violent expression across his hyung's face. He didn't recognize this person at all.

"Well, well. Look who we have here," J-Hope chuckled. Goosebumps was rising on Prince Jimin's skin and he couldn't ignore the uneasy feeling that was beginning to creep up along his spine, but he hid that fear deep inside himself. Seokjin and Yoongi watched silently from behind, unable to think of the right thing to do.

"W-Why are you doing to Hoseok-hyung?! Please stop being a burden to him!" Prince Jimin roared with all the courage he could muster. He could feel a set of tears was tingling at the corner of his eyes and he failed from letting them fall.

"It's just who I am, Jimin. You can't really expect me to be someone who I am not, can you?" J-Hope asked, rhetorically.

"Don't be anything! Just stop doing anything and come back to the castle!"

"I'm not finished yet, sweetheart. Got lots of things to steal." Prince Jimin was shocked to the core. J-Hope trashed the citizen's houses and now he was stealing from them? The prince's senses were flooded with nothing but pure anger and fury as he walked forward to confront the violent persona that took over his hyung.

"Your Highness, please!" Seokjin's futile voice could be heard pleading from behind.

Prince Jimin ignored him and yanked J-Hope's arm, pulling him closer so that they were face-to-face. He gritted through his teeth, "You're robbing your own people?"

J-Hope bulldozed Prince Jimin and he fell to the ground. His palms braced the impact but the ground was already scattered with shattered pieces of glass. J-Hope appeared like a complete maniac when his dark and low voice boomed through the air, "How dare you touch me!"

Seokjin and Yoongi darted forward when they saw blood gushing out from Prince Jimin's palms. He winced in agony at the stinging pain as more tears slid down his face. Seokjin was quick to remove all the small pieces of glass that he could find from the prince's palms. He ripped two strips of fabric off his dress shirt and tied them around both palms as tightly as possible. J-Hope snickered loudly, observing the whole situation.

"You're too much, J-Hope. Hurting your own dongsaeng like this," Yoongi spoke, voice laced with suppressed rage.

"Oh? You're such a hypocrite," J-Hope chuckled to himself. "You're not that much of an angel yourself, aren't you, Yoongi? Unlike you, at least I'm not a murderer."

It felt like time had stopped. Yoongi froze. His heart skipped a couple of beats before it thumped so loudly against his chest it might burst. His eyes were lifeless and his breathing was uneven. Seokjin's hands went stilled, hovering above its previous position. He was sure his ears had heard correctly. Prince Jimin's jaw was dropped to the floor. The pain on his palms was suddenly nowhere to be found. He didn't know what J-Hope meant by that, but he knew J-Hope wouldn't say anything so recklessly.

"What do you me—" Prince Jimin started, but he was cut off by a woman's scream. All four of them snapped their heads around and they could see a group of people started crowding around the corner-lot house. It was probably belonged to the woman who screamed. Even though the streetlights were quite dimmed, the Alanians noticed Prince Hoseok's peculiar appearance.

"Prince Hoseok? Is that you?!" A voice yelled.

"Why are you all bruised up, Your Highness? Did you trash the house?!" Another voice yelled.

"Were you trying to rob Mrs. Montana, Your Highness?!" And another voice.

"What kind of prince are you? Is this why you were absent just now?!" And another.

"Shame on you!" And another. And another. And another. The crowd doubled up and they up roared. Prince Jimin saw Taehyung from the corner of his eyes and their gaze met. The prince shot him a desperate look and mouthed 'Please' before Taehyung nodded, understood of what he needed to do. He whispered something to Jungkook who was standing beside him and they both tried their best to counter the riot. It was two against dozens but at least it was something rather than nothing.

"We have to go. Now," Prince Jimin rushed. J-Hope looked like he still didn't want to leave, enjoying the commotion that he had started. Yoongi sighed and stepped forward.

"I'm sorry, Your Highness," Yoongi whispered. He lifted and bent his arm, his elbow pointing outwards. He ruthlessly jacked his arm forward and knocked J-Hope out with a sharp hit right on the back of his head. He fell forward but didn't hit the ground because Yoongi caught him in his arms. Yoongi whispered again, more softly this time, "I'm really sorry."

The tone of his voice was different. Something told Prince Jimin that Yoongi was not apologizing for knocking his prince out; he was apologizing for something else.